San Jose technology firm Rogar Manufacturing will pay back wages to 17 workers it fired after they sought coronavirus sick leave, the U.S. Department of Labor said Wednesday.
Rogar, which makes wiring setups for semiconductors, will pay $41,214 after “wrongly denying the employees’ requests for paid sick leave for coronavirus-related reasons,” the department said in a news release.
The company, founded in 1979, violated the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the department said. Labor Department investigators found that Rogar “terminated the workers who were eligible for paid leave under the FFCRA when they attempted to use that leave.”
Rogar did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not clear whether the employees worked in San Jose at the firm’s headquarters or at the company’s facility in Imperial County, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Act gives tax credits to American businesses with fewer than 500 employees “either to provide employees with paid leave for the employee’s own health needs or to care for family members,” the department noted. It also ensures “that workers are not forced to choose between their paychecks and the public health measures needed to combat the virus,” according to the department.
In response to the department’s Wage and Hour Division investigation, Rogar suspended all disciplinary actions, agreed to pay the back wages, and has honored the leave requests made under the Coronavirus Response Act, the department said.
“The U.S. Department of Labor encourages employers and employees to call us for assistance to improve their understanding of the new requirements under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and to use our educational online tools to avoid violations,” Wage and Hour Division district director Susana Blanco said in the news release.
